


Artifice (excerpt)

by suspectmind



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Flirting, Gen, Introspective Nonsense, M/M, idk man its kind of a vignette??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 13:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12277620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suspectmind/pseuds/suspectmind
Summary: He thinks Sturges is a synth. (An excerpt from the other fic lmao)





	Artifice (excerpt)

**Author's Note:**

> A super short excerpt from an FO4 fic I never really finished. Like at all.  
> Basically, X6 (and others, but mostly X6) try to find a place in the Commonwealth after Nora blows up the Institute. 
> 
> Also: 'Neil' comes from the fact that it sounds like 'Neo' if you say it out loud enough, and I think everyone knows why Nora calls him 'Neo' lmao

\---

He thinks Sturges is a synth. He feels like one. He has no way of knowing beyond ripping him open, and he knows Nora wouldn’t hesitate to decimate him if he did, he decides as Sturges continues hammering away at a nail embedded in a wall nearby. It’s that reason and not some sentimental attachment that stops him from shooting the town mechanic right now.

Besides, Sturges is suited to menial tasks and manual labour. He’s useful. 

He keeps hammering through his sweat, stopping only to wipe at this forehead. Why a synth would let himself be affected by sweat is beyond him. Even while looking completely human and having a biology generated to be as close to humans as possible, the need to sleep and be affected by sweat and emotions would be purely psychological. Emotions are psychological. Having that thought puts him on edge. It’s just the kind of thought that would end with a synth being reset. He doesn’t like how these thought creep into his consciousness so often. In a sense, it was easier not to deal with these thoughts, or let them go from formless sentences to paragraphs and paragraphs of thinking. A constructed morality, he think. And he thinks he’s had that thought before. It pulls at the back of his mind, like it would before he submitted himself for wiping. 

He never could let go of those memories fully. Just enough to get himself back to the task at hand. Nora would tell him not to repress. _Do you want to talk?_ she’d ask. He would politely refuse. He’s not sure if he’s repressing. He’s not sure if other synths do the same or if it’s a malfunction that is unique to him. Maybe all synths have a backup somewhere stored in a bank behind everything that flows as their current stream, that would easily come unhinged with a few sharp tugs. _That’s what trauma is, Neo,_ Nora would say. _That’s what it does_. (He stills a little when he realises he doesn’t like that it’s her voice that speaks in the back of his head. He doesn’t like that his newfound conscience born of trauma sounds like her.)

If Sturges was a synth, perhaps he remembers too. If the wipe didn’t clear everything, maybe he remembers where he was assigned, where and why he escaped. X6 irritably remembers Deacon. Maybe Sturges was a railroad rescue. Its another irrational thought, but X6 thinks Sturges would like High Rise. 

“You know,” Sturges interrupts, wearing a lopsided grin. “Guy’ll get ideas if you stare that long and hard there, Neil.

X6 is suddenly acutely aware of how long he’s been standing transfixed on the mechanic. Sturges’ has long since stopped hammering, already turning to head inside the shack, just as Nora steps out. 

“My designation is X6-88,” X6 says, a little too late.

Nora smirks. “You want to talk about it, Neo?”

He hates that his composure cracks briefly, an irritable twitch in his mouth. “No, ma’am.”

\---

**Author's Note:**

> let me kno if u want me to like. post the whole thing lmao


End file.
